Teen birth rate up for first time since 1991

By gerencherk

The teenage birth rate in the U.S. rose for the first time in 15 years in 2006, and the birth rate increased for unmarried mothers as well, federal health officials said Wednesday.

Though it’s too early to know whether adolescents’ higher birth rate last year is a trend, it comes on the heels of a long decline that saw the teen birth rate fall 34% from its all-time high of 61.8 births per 1,000 girls in 1991. Between 2005 and 2006, the birth rate for teenagers aged 15 to 19 rose 3% to 41.9 live births per 1,000 in 2006, up from 40.5 births per 1,000 in 2005, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

“This a big wake-up call,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which focuses 97% of its work on preventing unintended pregnancy. “Teen pregnancy in this country is still a serious challenge.”

The U.S. has a much higher teen pregnancy rate than most of its international allies and has spent more than $1 billion in the last 10 years promoting abstinence programs that haven’t worked, she said. “It’s hard to look at this data, if you’re looking at it from a public health point of view, and not come to the conclusion that we have to be doing more in this country to prevent teens from getting pregnant.”

The largest increase was among black teens, whose birth rate rose 5% in 2006 compared with 4% for American Indians, 3% for Caucasians and a 2% rise for Hispanic teens.

A sliver of good news came in the birth rate for the youngest teens age 10 to 14. It declined slightly to 0.6 per 1,000 people from 0.7, with the number of births to this age group falling 5% to 6,405 last year, the CDC said.

Not so on the upper end of the age spectrum. Last year, the birth rate for older teens ages 18 to 19 was more than three times higher than the rate for teens age 15 to 17. They had 73 births per 1,000 population vs. 22 per 1,000 for the younger group. The birth rate rose 3% for teens aged 15 to 17 and 4% for teens aged 18 and 19. Many studies peg the average age of Americans’ sexual debut at 17.

The statistics are sure to rekindle debate over the most effective way to help teens protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Fourteen states this year have rejected federal funds that require states’ sex ed programs to focus solely on abstinence, as opposed to a comprehensive approach that includes information about birth control, Richards said.

“Abstinence-only not only doesn’t delay young people becoming sexually active, it also means that when they do they don’t use contraception,” she said. “I think the mood of the country is to focus on common-sense solutions to problems.

“Sex is everywhere. It’s selling every product in America, and yet we’ve been unwilling or unable to have the conversation about preventing pregnancy,” she added. “We can’t ask teens to be responsible if we’re not taking responsibility ourselves for having open, honest conversations with them.”

Separately, unmarried childbearing hit a new record high as the total number of births to unmarried mothers rose nearly 8% to 1.6 million last year. That’s a 20% jump since 2002. Unwed women age 25 to 29 led the increase with a 10% rise between 2005 and 2006. The upswing corresponds with higher rates in recent years of couples cohabiting instead of, or before, marrying.

Other findings include:

The portion of all U.S. births to unmarried mothers increased to 38.5%, up from 36.9% in 2005.

Birth rates were up across the board among women age 15 to 44. The total fertility rate increased 2% last year to its highest level since 1971, marking the first time in 35 years that the birth rate was above replacement rate. The total fertility rate is an estimate of the average number of births that a group of women would have over their lifetimes.

The rate of births delivered by Caesarean section hit a new record high in 2006. C-sections make up more than 31% of all births, a 3% increase from 2005.

About Health Matters

Health Matters is a blog-style round-up of news and analysis concerning consumer health and the business of health care. The lead writer is MarketWatch reporter Kristen Gerencher, who also writes the Vital Signs column. Andrea Coombes and Jonathan Burton contribute editing. Gerencher won a 2006 explanatory journalism award from the Society of Professional Journalists-Northern California for a series she did on health savings accounts.